Review: Voyage of the Glaciers SB May 20-27 Coral Princess w/4 days DIY pre-cruise!

[WisCruiser2]

Thanks for your informative and overall positive review! We booked a cruisetour for NEXT May a couple weeks ago. Our first trip to Alaska was 15 years ago, and my husband & I always said we'd love to go back, so decided we'd better do it while we could! The cruise part is on the Coral, which we haven't been on yet. Glad to know that you enjoyed it.

[Hdnwaters]

If any of you are interested in seeing some additional photos, here is a link to my Facebook album. You don't need to have a Facebook account to see it. Some photos are the same as I posted in the review.

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10213750736389052.1073741871.1425325194&type=1&l=2cc9faa60e

[RoperDK]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We are on the Coral SB in August. Do you remember if they were offering the Crab Shack and on what nights? Also did they have an Alaskan theme buffet on one of the days? Did they serve crab legs in the dining room?

 

Thanks in advance,

Dawn

[Hdnwaters]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We are on the Coral SB in August. Do you remember if they were offering the Crab Shack and on what nights? Also did they have an Alaskan theme buffet on one of the days? Did they serve crab legs in the dining room?

 

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Dawn

 

 

 

Thank you Dawn. I always love reading other folks reviews & having photos to visualize just what I was getting myself into! They did have the crab shack one night. Not sure what night. It was mid-week. I think it was in the Horizon Court but not 100% sure. We had crab legs in the MDR the second night. That would have been after Glacier bay.

 

 

 

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They were good but the best crab legs I had were at Tracy's in Juneau. I guess you never think about reality, but after doing the Chef's table, they told us all the food on the ship is frozen. They do a pretty good job cooking for so many folks with what they have to work with. All the food for 2 weeks is loaded in Vancouver. I never did ask if the NB voyage had fresh food the first couple of nights. Food for thought! [emoji16]

Edited June 8, 2017 by Hdnwaters

[DougH]

What was the name of the Cruise Director? I'm updating my cruise history spreadsheet but didn't keep all the daily Princess patters.

[Hdnwaters]

What was the name of the Cruise Director? I'm updating my cruise history spreadsheet but didn't keep all the daily Princess patters.

 

Lexi. I don't remember her last name.

 

I didn't keep any of my patters. Too many art and jewelery shows! ;)

[JanetAlice]

Thanks for the review. We head out in less than a month. I am curious. How did your expectations compare to the reality ?

[Hdnwaters]

Thanks for the review. We head out in less than a month. I am curious. How did your expectations compare to the reality ?

 

I look at life this way...if you never expect too much then you won't be disappointed.

 

When someone says to me, "I'm going on a cruise" I immediately think of 6,000 passengers all fighting for deck chairs, inside cabins, and busting their butts on a Flow Rider! But then I always heard if you want to go to Alaska, do a cruise. Would I do it again? Absolutely! I think most everything exceeded my expectations. I've travelled a lot, mostly in the continental US, I tend to avoid the tourist "hot spots". (Okay, I lied....I do love Disney World! :D ) I was concerned that the port towns and Talkeetna, who make their living from tourism, would be nothing more than the typical tourist traps. I was pleasantly surprised at what they had to offer and the quaintness. The food on the Coral was better than what I expected. While driving across the state of Utah, my husband says, "If you've seen one arch, you've seen them all" I was expecting the same from him about the glaciers! He loved seeing the glacier calve and was outside the whole time! Surprise! So reality was better than what I expected!

[JF - retired RRT]

I woke up with what I thought was just a normal run of the mill head cold. Believe me, I had taken every precaution I could think of to keep from getting sick. The Coral had Purell dispensers everywhere & we bought anti-bacterial hand soap back in Seward. I guess it just takes being near that one cough or sneeze from an infected person. By lunch time I was running fever almost 101.

 

 

Loved your review and pictures.

For future reference (in case you didn't know this)...anti-bacterial anything only works on bacteria. Colds are caused by a virus. Anti-viral products are different from anti-bacterial products.

[jb008]

Lexi. I don't remember her last name.

 

I didn't keep any of my patters. Too many art and jewelery shows! ;)

 

Lexi Comley

[DougH]

Thanks, I liked her and she was very visible about the ship

[Hdnwaters]

Hi....if your interested I just did a full photo review of the Chef's table from the voyage!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53282150&posted=1#post53282150

[cruisequeen4ever]

Such a fun review; thank you for taking us along for your first cruise!

 

 

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[Turqoisblu]

Day 12 Disembark & Vancouver

 

Sad to leave the Coral Princess. We went down for breakfast in the MDR, I will tell you the breakfast was no where near as good as Sabatini's. (Not open on disembark) We needed to be out of our cabin by 8am. Our suite perk along with elite passengers was to go to the Wheelhouse Bar. They had coffee, juice, and pastries available for us. I think our disembark time was 10 or 10:30. They called our color tag about 9:30 so we headed off the ship. We were directed to a spot to collect our bags, I handed a lady our custom declaration paper that we filled out the night before. Not sure if I ever showed my passport and never got it stamped! They directed us to the taxis which was a short wait and we were at Hotel Blu by 10am! They told us we could probably get in our room by 12 and directed us about a nice bar/restaurant, The Distillery, that was a short walk. We were staying in the Yaletown area. I was starting to feel a bit under the weather so it was nice to get in the room for a nap!

 

I'm not a huge fan of big cities. Vancouver is HUGE! Way too many homeless folks. A very expensive place to live. Being the weekend, clear skies, and highs in the 70s, everyone in the city was out and about. We did have 2 really good meals in Vancouver. The first night we ate at Lupo Restaurant & Vinoteca and the second night, we ate at Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House. I would recommend either one but they are pricey.

 

 

Sunday we wanted to go to Stanley Park. I was feeling better but DH started to feel sick! We decided to do the Hop-On-Hop-Off Trolley. We waited forever and never saw a trolley. We even tried calling the trolley company. No luck. So we got a cab to take us to the aquarium. The jelly fish and frog exhibits were really unique. Back in the taxi, we talked the driver into being our tour guide the rest of the afternoon. He did a great job and we gave him a good tip. It was much cheaper than the trolley ride anyway.

 

 

On Monday, we headed to the airport....not feeling too bad for the ride home. Went through US customs in the airport. Pretty painless except our boarding pass said we had TSA pre-check & Canada does not have a pre-check line. DH was just not prepared! [emoji16] One last moose!

 

 

 

Wine & movies helped me tolerate the flight home.

 

 

That's about it! Hope you enjoyed my trip and I hope it gives some of you that are new to cruising and Alaska some insight. BTW....with all the food, I actually lost 2 pounds! I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have. Happy Cruising!

 

 

 

This review is awesome. Thanks for sharing I felt like I was there.

 

 

Carnival Liberty December 2017

Carnival Liberty December 2016

[Ginnyfyr]

Thanks for a great review! We are sailing r/t out of Vancouver on Coral in September and will be in D704, so I enjoyed getting a bit of a preview idea of our balcony view :)

[BeachClubDee]

What a fabulous report!!! Amazing pictures. Thank you so much for sharing your detailed review of your trip. We also used Juneau Whale Watch for a combo Mendenhall/Whale Watch and we were pleased with the tour company.